I'm new to Amahi and many topics relating to running, so apologies in advance if this is a novice question - I couldn't find it addressed in a forum search.

I have a server running Amahi 10 on F25, and a Windows laptop connected to the same network. I also typically run the PIA VPN client on the laptop to anonymize browsing/download traffic from my ISP. Amahi is handling DHCP.

I can't access Amahi apps via the web browser if PIA is running, using the http://[app name].[home domain] address. I can still log in to the HDA dashboard with a web browser, and I can also view HDA files with Windows file explorer. If I try to connect to any app, my web browser gives me a DNS error (I've tried 3 browsers) though in one case I get an error message from the Amahi app, not the web browser (Transmission, when connecting through Opera). If I disconnect from PIA, I can access the HDA and apps normally.

Seems clear that PIA is part of the problem. I wonder if the simple fact of using a web browser causes PIA to connect to Amahi using the external IP (that's my complete noob guess?)...

I'd appreciate any help figuring this out or suggestions on what I could try. Thanks for reading!

I tried to figure out what Amahi server "sees" when my Windows laptop tries to connect. From the Windows laptop I ran tracert on 192.168.0.10 (the Amahi server local IP) with the PIA VPN connected and disconnected. Results are attached.

I concluded that Amahi (maybe specifically the DNS server?) thinks my Windows laptop is on a different network while PIA VPN is running, but some other component of the network (my router? Fedora?) still recognizes the laptop's internal IP and gives me access to its files. Probably butchering the technical details...

My next thought for now is to configure OpenVPN between Amahi and my Windows laptop, and use that tunnel to connect to Amahi.